Kyle Sheehan's Flight Deck

During this lab exercise, we worked with geospatial video to demonstrate how the location of a UAV can be tied to a map as well as the video that the aircraft is seeing at that time. Oftentimes in the UAS industry, we deal with nadir (straight down shots). These shots are then tied to GPS coordinates for mapping purposes. However, there are instances when we need shots obtained from a different angle so as to capture the surrounding areas gathering more information. While reviewing the captured video, either post flight or during flight, it is important to know where the UAV is and where it is looking. This information can be very beneficial for operations such as search and rescue, firefighting, surveillance, etc. Geospatial video allows us to see this data. The idea for the lab was simple: take the data we were given and turn it into the final product. The process however, was not as concrete. In previous labs, our instructor has either given us step-by step instructions or walked ...

During lab on November 8th, we went out to Dr. Hupy's property to practice placing and optimizing ground control points. To begin the day, Dr. Hupy explained the layout of the property so we would have a good idea on where to place the ground control points. From there, we walked around the property marking elevation change, noting possible flight path obstructions, and placing down ground control points around the area to obtain sufficient and equal spacing between them. The GCPs we used were simple, as we could turn them on and place them down as they gathered their specific GPS data. One important thing to note about these GCPs is that they must be picked up in the reverse order which they were placed. So, with each point placed we were sure to note key characteristics of the surrounding environment. This was to help us find the points during post-processing and identify which ones were placed in order. One of the GCPs placed in the back woods, behind this was a creek tha...

For my capstone project, I have chosen to pursue creating an effective way for UAS to be used in accident reconstruction, either aviation or vehicular. I believe that UAS can be a very effective tool for gathering data at a crash site providing high accuracy and quick results. For this project, I conducted some introductory research which is outlined by the annotated bibliography below. The main goals of this research were A) if this had been done before, B) if so, what are some of the different ways of going about it, C) can off-the-shelf aircraft be used effectively? Another part of this was to create a research timeline. This will be important in maintaining proper scheduling of flights and research so that I do not fall behind. Indiana winters are extremely variable so I did not plan out specific dates for flights to be completed, however I provided general date ranges that can still be achieved. Ideally I will be able to run test flights in the early months of the winter, but ...